The project cost around £132,000 and greatly reduced travel time between the Eastern Suburbs and the central business district of Wellington.

[b] Construction employed a standard tunnel-excavation technique in which two teams of diggers begin on either side of the obstacle to be tunnelled through, eventually meeting in the centre.

Traffic lights have been installed at the end of the city approach to the tunnel to ease congestion and improve safety at the Basin Reserve roundabout.

The NZ Transport Agency has no plans in the next ten years to duplicate the tunnel, but plans to investigate work to upgrade the city approaches around the Basin Reserve, including a possible flyover to Buckle Street, to reduce congestion at the city end of the tunnel and around the Basin Reserve.

[3] During World War II, the government planned to use the tunnel as an air raid shelter if Wellington were attacked.

A young woman named Phyllis Avis Symons (17) was murdered by George Errol Coats (29), who buried her alive in the fill from the tunnel.

Recent additions include new lighting, CCTV cameras, brighter cleanable side panels and pollution control.

Buses to the eastern suburbs bypass this congestion by using the much-older single-lane Hataitai bus tunnel.

[9] In 2011, they attempted gain permission to remove some of these homes to construct a second tunnel, but faced legal roadblocks regarding the heritage nature of some of these properties, many of which were built before 1930.